Atlantropa included proposals for dams to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, and between Sicily and Tunisia.

The dams would provide hydroelectric power and would be managed by a newly formed independent body with the authority to discontinue energy to any country which threatened peace.

[4] Through his work at Baukunst he came into contact with many renowned architects[4] such as Lloyd Wright whose home Taliesin he visired i.

But it was not until 1927 when he read the geographer Otto Jessen´s book [4]"Die Straße von Gibraltar" (English: The Gibraltar Strait) wherein Jessen referred to the Mediterranean as an "evaporation sea",[4] because of his belief that if the flow of water from the Atlantic Ocean through the strait would be blocked, then the sea would naturally evaporate.

From this Sörgel originated the idea of Atlantropa—a utopian project which would include damming the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, and the Congo River.

Sörgel's idea to lower sea levels would increase the dry land areas around the Mediterranean and provide overland access to Africa.

Damming the Congo River would have refilled the basin surrounding Lake Chad, providing fresh water to irrigate the Sahara and shipping access to the African interior.

Sörgel died 25 December 1952 at the age of 67 soon after having been struck by a car while on his bicycle en route to a lecture at a German university in Munich.